Boika Bursts the Bubble

The tension here in the tournament room at Casino Barcelona has reached its highest point as the field got down to just 161 players, meaning the first player to bust from the tournament would become this year's EPT Barcelona bubble boy. Play was stopped for a few minutes by the tournament director to make sure that all the tables had finished their current hand and from that point, all tables would continue with hand-for-hand action.

Soon after play resumed, the dealer at Table 8 announced an all in and a call. In just a few moments, the table was surrounded by the media, film crews, as well as a huge number of players from other tables.

The hand was not played until all the rest of the hands were finished. The action was between Australian Jonathan Karamalikis, who called Aliaksei Boika's all-in bet of 37,500 from the cutoff.

Showdown
Boika:
Karamalikis:

The dealer burned the first card and put out the {9-Hearts} {3-Diamonds} {2-Diamonds} flop on the felt, leaving Karamalikis in the lead. The {4-Diamonds} on the turn and {5-Spades} on the river were no good for Boika making him the official 2012 EPT Barcelona Main Event bubble boy — the first of such this season. All of the players have now locked up €8,400 in prize money and 160 remain.